Unferat

Fantastic necromantic romp! But there's a lot the game doesn't tell you. 1. Read the question mark in the cauldron. 2. Explore. Ponder your Orb. If you're short on something, it's probably plentiful somewhere. 3. Not sure how to progress? Kill some people. 4. But don't kill too many people. The real progress is skills. So kill the RIGHT people... 5. Save often. You never know when a wolf will kill some rando, the villagers will blame you, and an angry mob will come to smash up your orb mid-ponder.

What a little gem. I can't really say "it's a good game", as there are plenty of issues: some animations are just sluggish, movement through the map is quite tedious, 'tutorial'/prologue is confusing, UI is unfriendly and bizzare at times. Simultaneously, it's just so much fun and even some of the flaws support fantasy of being an insidious, spiteful villain. Preparations are engaging, simulation is surprisingly complex and supports emerging gameplay where player's agency and creativity is the most important factor. It's really, really fun to decide whether you want to spend time on spreading the plague slowly debuffing everyone, infecting domestic animals with infernal parasites, or cutting resources from the village by summoning demonic portal in the mines or maybe animating carnivorous plants to pick off lumberjacks and militia one by one. Lovely piece of junk. Would absolutely pay for the sequel or DLCs.

One of those special games that are cheap, short but very unique. In this case game could be summarized as “Realistic Necromancer Simulator”. You collect resources, improve and learn new spells and try to take revenge on village. Its biggest feature by far is persistent map. Some creatures respawn, but villagers and named characters don’t. You start by culling map one by one, do side activities, until you gain power and summons to take small groups. With more humans killed, scripted events and more enemies arrive that need to be dealt with. Until you kill everyone leaving empty map as you depart. I would wish for something like this on grander scale with proper budget, as it has so much personality but sadly will be passed over and forgotten.

On first glance slow, clunky, and janky, Unferat is actually surprisingly compelling once you get rolling. Each system, simulation, or spell has its own little quirks to learn, and the game rewards experimentation. You start out weak and vulnerable, and have resort to asymmetric tactics like spying, poisoning, and ambushes to pick off specific villagers. Your spells and abilities all have little bits of friction that lend them a sense of tangibility - it really contributes to the feeling of being an underdog when you have to frantically flee from a fight to create enough space to pull up your spellbook and double check your incantation, or retreat back to your lair to spend a few minutes brewing poisons to sneak into the town's food supply and using your scrying orb to spy on the villagers in search of isolated targets to pick off. Though I wouldn't characterize it as an ImSim per se, I think fans of games like Thief will enjoy this game that forces you to carefully consider your approach, use every tool and mechanic at your disposal, and come at foes sideways. For a couple bucks, Unferat is a unique 6-8 hour game that doesn't quite play like anything else I've seen.

FUN

This was almost a refunded/don't recommend because it's a barely playable mess... but it's a mess with a clear vision and a sort of charming, nostalgic feel. It's only trying to do one thing. It doesn't do it particularly well, but it does it all the same: Be a creepy sorcerer and avenge your dad.